Naruto: Enter the Rider
by Paints his shirt red
Summary: When the one of the most wanted men in all 5 of the great shinobi nations comes to the leaf village for help somthing unimagenible is realised. My own charectrIno parring plus others later. please R&R my little sister has stories with more hitsreviews
1. Chapter 1

I don't own naruto

**NARUTO**

**ENTER THE RIDER**

**Chapter 1: Hit and run!**

A thin crescent shaped moon, that was all but eclipsed by the earth shone brightly none the less down upon the Captain Ryo Higawa's camp. Captain Ryo was slowly riding from his camp to the ambush point mounted on one of his strongest horses, a large black mare that stood seventeen hands at the shoulder." They should be arriving very soon, Black Moon" he whispered into the ear of his horse. The mare gave loud snort in her impatience. Ryo chuckled, "I know, I'm just as ready to get this over with as you are."

Ryo was a seventeen year old boy that had risen to fame as one of the worst crime lords of the age. He was known as the Dark Cloaked Rider for when ever he attacked he would appear riding upon great horse, wearing a dark hooded cloak, carrying a glittering golden shield on his left arm and grasping a silver sword in his right. He was one of the few S-rank criminals wanted dead or alive by all five of the great shinobi nations.

After a few short moments Ryo arrived at the ambush point. The ambush point was a narrow bridge, crossing over a stream, that would force any supply convoy to move into a single file line formation. A heavy mist would conceal Ryo's team of twelve men and women all armed with light weapons, such as make shift spears and axes. He approached his second in command, a tall women with shoulder length red hair and wearing dark clothes that made it difficult to spot her in the darkness. "Is everyone in position?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said in a low hushed voice. "Can you believe that they let us find out where they cross this river this easily? It'll be easy wiping out those slime balls with info like this." She continued with a snicker.

Ryo dismounted and put a hand on her shoulder and whispered, "that's why I want everyone sharp as tacks for this job. We can't make any mistakes, got it."

The women rolled her eyes and then pulled her hair back into pony tail. "You worry to much sweetie," she said in a voice she knew would annoy him. "I think you've forgotten that we've all been doing this for some time." She then tied a dark cloth around a her head to mask face. "You'd better get into position they're almost here."

Ryo then watched as she cut a breathing tube out of a shoot of bamboo and swam out to her position under the bridge. Ryo shook his and smiled as pulled his hood up to cover his white streaked dark brown hair. He remounted Black Moon and moved to his place at the end of the bridge.

The sound of wheels and the grunts of the men and oxen turning them broke the silence of the night. Three carts, two small ones that were pushed by hand and one large one being pulled by Oxen started to cross the bridge. The cargo was covered by brown animal skins and the drivers of the carts wore straw circular shaped hats that were the signature marks of farmers.

Ryo Spurred his horse forward out of the mist and reared in defiance. Simultaneously, the redheaded women and the rest of Ryo's team leapt out of the water and onto the shore behind the carts closing all escape routes. Ryo called out to the men in the convoy, "Have no fear. We don't want to make your lives short but if you resist we will kill you. All we ask is that you abandon those supplies and you will see your families again." Ryo paused and waited for a response.

There was a small thud that came from the rear most cart and a man walked up from convoy and approached Ryo. "Whoa you'd better stop there," said Ryo. The Man stopped five steps from the tip of Black Moon's nose which was now flaring and snorting. The Man looked up at Ryo. The hair on the back of Ryo's neck stood on end and he glared down at the man with his deep blue eyes. Suddenly the man dissolved before Ryo's eyes. Black Moon whinnied in fear. _"Genjutsu? Damn it!" _thought Ryo as he quickly drew his sword. "FALL BACK!!!!" screamed Ryo. "IT'S A TRAP!!!!" Ryo charged forward. The first cart's cargo exploded in black an purple camouflage, as a sound ninja strike team attacked. Black Moon trampled two of the enemies while Ryo swung his sword slashing another. After passing the carts Ryo saw that his team had been slaughtered. Their bodies had many shuriken and kunai sticking out of them. Time seemed to slow down as the two of them blew past. For a moment Ryo wanted nothing more then to just rush to their sides but only for a moment as he knew it would bring nothing but his own death. Ryo turned his horse away and galloped down the bank of the stream. A sudden burning pain burst into his back quickly followed by another and another until warm blood trickled down his legs. _" If we can just cross the border into the fire country we'll be safe." _Thought Ryo as he spurred Black Moon faster. Ryo and Black Moon Sprinted for the border trying every maneuver to shake their pursuers but to no result. Time seemed to move like a glacier, slow and agonizing all the while Ryo was loosing blood. Suddenly one of the sound ninja leapt up onto Black Moon's haunches reached around Ryo's neck with a kunai. "Take this!!" yelled Ryo, as Smashed the enemy's head, crushing his skull with the rim of his shield. Ryo looked up ahead and saw two large stone faces flanking each side of the river which dropped straight down into a huge water fall. "This is our only chance." said Ryo to himself. Ryo closed his eyes and focused his chakra into the hooves of his now panting horse. He then steered her out onto the water. The sound ninja stopped in disbelief. Ryo looked back over his shoulder, cursed his attackers looked forward again and charged over the falls.

A.N. I thought everyone would get tired of walking everywhere, so I gave this character a better mode of travel.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: A Cry for Help

"I TOLD YOU GUYS! IF YOU HAD LET ME I'DVE KICKED THOSE GUY'S BUTTS!!!!" Team Kakashi and team Gai were walking back though the gates of the hidden leaf village, early in the morning while enduring another of Naruto's rants.

"Yeah, I'm sure you could've" said a thoroughly worn out Neji. He brushed the sweat off his forehead. "You just looked pretty occupied with getting that steel jaw trap off your foot, so we handled them."

The teams had just returned from a high C rank mission were many armed poachers were harassing a small wildlife preserve. Defeating the poachers was easy enough however finding and destroying all the traps they had set was not. Most of the members of the teams were now extremely tired and would be sitting the next few missions out. But Naruto's seemingly unending supply of energy continued to astound everyone. And there was also Lee who always pushes himself to the limit.

"Say Naruto! Why don't you and I have a push up contest?" said Lee.

Naruto looked at Lee and tried not to vomit at the idea of push ups for fun. "Nah Lee, I think I'll pass on that."

Lee looked slightly dismayed "You can never train too much. And the more you train the more fun it becomes, RIGHT GAI SENSEI?!"

Gai put one hand one his hip, held out the other in a thumbs up gesture and flashed a huge smile. "Right you are Lee, you can never do too many push ups."

Kakashi rolled his one exposed eye and mumbled "how is it those two can even think of training after a mission like that. He then pulled out the book he'd been reading and quickly thumbed through it looking for the page he had last read.

At the same time Ryo Higawa was just clearing the top of a hill when he looked up and saw the five faces of the hokage on a cliff. Ryo grit his teeth in pain filled smile. "We're almost there… cough." Ryo tasted blood in his mouth and knew he wasn't going to last much longer. The bandages he had made out of his cloak were soaked through with his blood. His horse, Black Moon had also seen better days. Her right foreleg was injured in their escape over the waterfall and she was now noticeably limping.

"I'd better ditch this gear," heaved Ryo as he loosened the sheath of his sword from his belt. He looked around for a good place to hide it and settled on a group of bushes. As he tossed his sword into the leaves he lost his balance and fell from his saddle. However, his leg remained tangled in the stirrup. The horse slowed to a stop and looked back at him. Ryo tossed the shield into the brush with the rest of his bandit gear and looked back at the horse. "Just keep going," He sputtered. "If we stop, I'll die here and I don't have the strength to get up… Just keep going."

The horse the glanced back toward the village and with a groan, pushed on. "Good girl," whispered Ryo as he slipped out of consciousness.

"Well I'm hitting the ramen shop up for breakfast. Anyone want to come with me before the morning rush starts?" said Naruto after finally giving up his attempt to redeem himself of his latest blunder. He looked over at Sakura hoping that she would be hungry enough to join him. But she just looked at him as if acting crazy again.

"How could you possibly have ramen for every meal of every day?"

Naruto was just about to respond when he looked up the road at a strange dark figure coming down the hill towards them. "HEY!! What's that?!" He said pointing at the figure as it loomed closer and began to take form.

Tenten smiled and said, "It's a wild horse I think."

"Not quite, BYAKUGAN!" said Neji as the veins surrounding his eyes grew. "There's someone being dragged behind that animal, he appears wounded."

Sakura started to run towards the approaching horse and fallen rider when she shouted back sarcastically, "If you're being dragged by an animal, odds are you're wounded." As she neared the rider the horse reared in the defense of its master. Lee dashed forward and grasped the reins in one hand. "I, the green beast of the leaf village will calm this savage creature with my-" He was cut off by a hoof that lashed out so quickly he had to drop the reins entirely to jump out of the way.

At this moment Tenten slowly moved forward, extended her hand in the form of a fist and made soft cooing noises with her mouth. This calmed the horse enough for her to take hold of the reins.

Naruto moved in to untie the rider's leg as Sakura quickly assessed the situation. "He has several, half treated kunai wounds in his back and lots cuts and scrapes on his face, probably from being dragged for quite some distance." She Looked back at the three Jounin. "One of you, go tell Lady Tsunade that we have a visitor that needs a little help."

Neji immediately made a dash for the Hokage's home at the far end of town, closely followed by Gai. Sakura then turned to Lee. "Lee, go inform the hospital that we're coming."

"Right!" said Lee and disappeared in a blur of green spandex. Sakura then returned to Naruto and Tenten, who had let go of the horse and knelt beside the body. "You two can help me get him there, but be careful. We don't want to damage those wounds any more than we have to. The three of them lined up and lifted the body of the rider together and started to rush him to the hospital as quickly and safely as possible.

Kakashi, however, stayed behind and watched after the group disappeared around a corner. His exposed eye narrowed and he looked back to the horse, but the beast had vanished without a trace. Kakashi pulled out his book and thought, _who is this guy_, as he started down the path by which the rider had come from.

_A.N. If no one tells me what they think of this chapter, I might just kill everyone in the next. Just kidding… but not really._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

**Rise and Shine**

"Am I to understand that you just brought a foreigner into this village, without any knowledge of who he might be, what so ever?!!" Lady Tsunade, the fifth Hokage seemed to swell with rage at Sakura's actions. But Sakura stood her ground, the same way a teenager would defy a parent.

The two of them were standing in one of the hallways of the hospital's recovery wing. In between them was the door to the room were the unconscious body of the fallen rider laid resting. He'd been through a lot since he was picked up by the returning teams of Kakashi and Gai. Upon arriving at the hospital, he was rushed to the emergency room where they stitched the three kunai wounds in his back closed and preformed a blood transfusion, bringing him out of immediate danger. He was then strapped to a gurney and rolled to the chakra rebuilding chambers. It appeared that he had lost almost all of his chakra in his attempt to reach the village, nearly killing him. Unfortunately, in response the inexperience of the medical ninja that rebuilt his chakra, she lost control of the flow and changed his white streaked brown hair to golden blonde. But no actual harm was done, his chakra returned to safe levels and he was sent to the recovery room. But by now the Hokage had arrived and she was not at all pleased with her student for bringing in an outsider.

"How dare you put this village in jeopardy over something like this? A ninja must always remain unemotional at al-" Tsunade was cut off by her student.

"What should we have done, left him there to bleed to death in the street? That would have made us as murderous as the people that did this to him!" There was a long pause were the two of them thought about each other's arguments. Sakura broke the silence, "I'm sorry sensei, I know that he could easily be an enemy, but if you had seen him…"

Tsunade held up her hand and stopped her. "I suppose that what you did was in the best intentions." She looked through a small window in the door. Ino one of Tsunade's other personal students was monitoring the young mans vitals. "I took a look at your examination report," she said without looking back. "I agree, they look like sound ninja wounds." Tsunade looked back to Sakura. "Guess an enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Sakura smiled and looked through the window with her sensei. "I guess now we figure out what to do with him," she said.

Sound rushed into Ryo's ears as he regained conciseness. He kept his eyes as closed as possible while he surveyed his room. The room was small, white and the sound of his heart monitor was beeping loudly. He was about to sit up when he spotted a blur of motion right beside his bed. A young, women, with long blonde hair and wearing a nurse's uniform was adjusting an IV when she turned to look at him. He quickly shut his eyes but it was too late.

"Rise and shine sleepy head." She said as she turned to face him. She then waved to the door as if to call some one in. "You had us worried for a while but since you're awake I guess your going to be just fine. My name is Ino Yamanaka…" She paused. Then she averted his eyes and started to blush. "And I'm sorry about your hair, I'm kind of new to rebuilding chakra for people. You were my first real attempt with a human patient.

Ryo, he opened his eyes and sat up. He reached up and plucked a few hairs and looked at them."Whew," he said. "The way you made it sound was as if I'd lost my hair." As he sat up a sharp pain lanced through him. He felt his chest and his fingers rubbed against ruff gauze bandages that were wrapped around his midsection.

At that moment the door to the room slid open and two people walked in. The first one was a tall blonde woman wearing a green jacket and a suspicious look on her face. The second was another girl the same age as Ino, with hair as pink as a cherry blossom.

The older of the two walked up to Ryo's bed. Ryo could sense that this woman carried a lot of weight around this place. "I assume you're lady Tsunade of the leaf village. That is where I am right?" Ryo asked.

The women snickered at him. "Well, that's one introduction I don't have to do," she exclaimed. "I am the Hokage of this village and this is the one who brought you in, Sakura."

Ryo inclined his head to the girl. "I owe you my life," he said. He turned back to face Tsunade and smiled. "Well, now what are you going to do with me? I know I'm a stranger to this village.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you could clear up the whole stranger thing by telling us your name," she said.

"You can call me Ryo, just Ryo," he said wondering if they'd see through him. _"If I have to I'll use that blonde girl as a hostage fight my way out." _ He thought to himself, already inching in her direction.

"If you're going to be that vague, I'll have to make sure your supervised at all times." Tsunade stated, glaring at the grinning. "I'll send for two Anbu black ops ninja to be stationed outside you door at all times." Tsunade turned to leave his room. "Come on girls lets give Ryo time to think about his answer as to who he is." The two girls walked out the door.

As Sakura turned she called back to Ryo, "I hope you feel better soon. A lot of people want to know more about you."

"Including me," said Ino, followed by a short giggle.

Tsunade then slid the door shut behind her as she left the room and stayed behind as the two girls ran to the waiting room. There, all three teams of Asuma, Gai and

Kurenai, as well as Naruto were standing, sitting or pacing.

Kiba was the first to speak. "Is it true? Did we just have a walk in?"

Naruto stepped forward, "I'd say more of a drag in!" His joke resounded as the room fell painfully silent. _"Man, ruff crowd."_

Shikamaru closed his eyes and sighed, "Sheesh Naruto, you got to work on those lame puns of yours."

Sakura ignored the Naruto's crappy joke and moved into the middle of the room. "Right now all we know is that he's reluctant to tell us any thing more then his name at this point."

Choji was munching on a freshly opened bag of his favorite brand of barbeque chips. "Couldn't the anbu just reverse hypnotize him to telling the truth?" The group began to mumble about whether or not that was an ethical thing to do at this point.

At that moment Ino spoke up, "I'm afraid that reverse hypnotism isn't an option." Everyone turned to hear what her reason was. "To use that on him right after a major chakra rebuilding session could damage his memory permanently."

Shino was sitting hunched over behind the whole group. "It would appear that our only choice at this time is to wait and see what he does," he said in a low whisper.

Ryo could hear the foot steps of to large people approaching. After they reached his door Tsunade began to give them orders not to let him out of his room. Before leaving she took one quick look through the window at him.

"YOU MUST THINK I'M A REAL, DANGEROUS MAN!!" he shouted out to her.

Tsunade cracked open the door and whispered, "You never said other ways…"

"Touché"

_A.N. Thanks for the reviews people. I used a quote from a John Wayne movie. I didn't make up the YOU MUST THINK I'M A REAL, DANGEROUS MAN part. Please R&R._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**A New Place to Live**

Ino was making her morning rounds in the recovery wing. It was morning of the third day since they brought in the stranger named Ryo. No progress had been made towards finding out who he was or where his horse ran off to. _Maybe I should check in on him again, _she thought. _After all they did remove his pain killers. _She proceeded down the main hall and was about to round the corner to his room when she heard the voices of the two guards stationed outside the door to his room. As she listened she could hear them arguing.

"I don't know man. I mean he just got out of surgery two days ago," said the first voice.

"I'm sick of baby sitting jobs," said another. "Like you said he just got out of surgery. It's not like he's gonna do anything."

Ino did not like where this conversation was headed.

"I say we go in their and beat him until he tells us who he is and why he's here," continued the guard. "And if he dies… Well, then we won't have to worry about him any more, if you're not in just stand watch."

There was a soft sliding sound as the door to Ryo's room slid open. Ino untied her nurse's cap and tossed it away. She whipped around the corner and blitzed towards the two treacherous guards.

The two guards saw her approaching, looked at each other and smiled. The one that had slid the door open held up his hand and called out to her. "Hey missy, I think you should just turn around- GASP!!!" He was cut off when Ino's fist knocked the wind out of him and sent him careening into his partner. The two of them landed at the end of the hall in a heap and unconscious.

Ino recomposed herself and scowled at the mangled bodies of the anbu ninja she had just knocked out. "I guess you shouldn't have let your guard down because I'm a skinny, blonde chick dressed as a nurse!" She reached up and flicked her bangs back, which simply fell back into place. She then turned to see if the commotion had woken Ryo, when to her surprise she saw that his bed was empty. Ino rushed into the room and her eyes quickly searched the room for the slightest chance that he was still there. Ryo was nowhere to be found but her gaze did fall upon a grill lying on the floor. She looked above the bed and saw that he had removed a vent cover from the ceiling, climbed up and escaped through the ventilation shaft. Ino dashed out of the room as fast as her feet would carry her. _It's amazing that he could not only make that kind of an escape in his condition, but do it without those anbu guys ever knowing_, she thought. _This guy is more then just some rider._

Lady Tsunade was slowly hiking up the stairs to her office carrying a cup of tea. She yawned loudly as she cleared the last step and moved toward the double doors of the Hokage chambers. _I can't believe I let Sakura talk me into letting that foreigner stay here, _she thought to her self. She opened her door, walked in and turned to close it. _Well, as long as he's at the hospital, being watched by the anbu he's not a threat. _Just as she closed the door, the shadows peeled back revealing the very man she was thinking about. He was standing in the space between the door and the wall with his arms crossed and a grin on his face. Tsunade was so surprised by his sudden appearance that she dropped her tea.

Ryo lunged forward, aiming low towards legs. Tsunade without hesitation shot out with one of her knees caching him right under the jaw. The force of Tsunade's incredible blow sent him smashing back into the wall from where he came, creating a fair sized crater in the sheetrock. Ryo's body slowly slumped to the floor leaving Tsunade towering over him. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!!!" she screamed.

Ryo slowly lifted his head. His eyes were rolling uncontrollably making it difficult to focus on the Hokage. "At the moment, Ma'am," he said shakily, "rescuing your tea." He held out his hand and in his palm was the tea cup that Tsunade had dropped in her surprise.

Tsunade look at the tea. Not a drop had been spilled. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she heart fully exclaimed as she took the tea in one hand and helped him to stand with the other. "Are you all right?" she asked as his head dipped.

Ryo managed to bring his head back up and look Tsunade in the eyes. "You are the sexiest woman I have ever seen," he whispered in a strange voice as he placed one hand on her cheek. "What do you say we get out of here?"

Tsunade blushed and rolled her eyes as she dragged Ryo to her desk and set him down in her chair. After a few moments Ryo regained control of himself. "I apologize for frightening you so much, ma'am," he said sheepishly. "I was hiding there so I wouldn't have to have a confrontation with the first person that walked in the room. Looks like that didn't work." Ryo managed to stand and returned the chair to its owner. "I'm here to tell you I've heeled and I'm ready to answer your questions," he said with a bow.

Tsunade frowned at him as she sat in her chair. "All right, who are you and why are you here?"

"As for who I am, afraid that that must remain secret for now. And I thought it was quite apparent when I was being dragged here by my horse that I needed medical help," he stated in a slightly sarcastic tone.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed, "alright how long do you intend to stay?"

Ryo smiled and bowed very low with much twirling of his hands. "As long as it is necessary for me to repay the dept I owe you and this village for taking me in, when I know for a fact, that others would have left me to die in the street."

Tsunade returned his bow with a nod of her head. "You know I can't just let you walk about freely." She said with a smile. "Until you feel that you are ready to leave you will be accompanied by my people at all times," She continued, and then leaned in closer, "And I mean all times."

Ryo stepped closer to Tsunade and took her hand in his. "You are a fair and just leader, Lady Tsunade." Ryo lightly kissed her on the hand.

Tsunade gave Ryo a sly glance as she took back her hand. She immediately began searching in her coat pocket to hide her snickering. She pulled out a small watch and said, "Your escort should be arriving right about… now!"

At that exact moment the door to the room flew open and in stormed a boy roughly fifteen, with spiky blonde hair and wearing an orange jumpsuit. The boy took three steps into the room and then noticed Ryo. "AAAHHHH!!!! Granny Tsunade, that guy escaped from those anbu guys in the hospital!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Tsunade stood up from her chair, "Naruto You idiot! I'm right here talking to him! I know already!" A few minuets past as Tsunade explained what was happening to Naruto. "Naruto, I am here by ordering you to guard this young man. You will watch his every move. You'll walk together, eat together and live together for as long as I see fit," she ordered with a grin.

Naruto was just about to protest when the door burst open again and Ino ran into the room. "Ryo's escaped from the…" her voice slowly died as she saw that Ryo was in the room.

Tsunade closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb trying not to laugh. _Oh, it's too early for this, _she thought to her self. "Naruto quit complaining and get out before I suspend you for insubordination."

Naruto growled with discontent and grabbed Ryo by the arm. "Let's go!" he grumbled as he pulled him toward the door.

As the two of them passed Ino, Ryo bumped into her slightly causing her to stumble. Ryo quickly broke free of Naruto's grasp, caught her hand and stopped her fall. He drew her back up. "My apologies miss," he said with smile. He quickly felt embarrassed and both he and Naruto hurried out the door.

Ino stood a little confused with a now giggling Tsunade. Her cheeks suddenly felt very warm. "That's alright." she whispered. She then turned to Tsunade to ask what was going on.

In the hall, the two boys were slowly walking down the stairs. "Those two look a lot alike, are they sisters or some thing?" Ryo asked.

Naruto looked at him and laughed, "HA, Sisters?! Tsunade's at least fifty years old." Ryo stopped while Naruto kept walking down the steps. "What's wrong?" Naruto asked looking back.

Ryo shook himself, "Man, that transformation jutsu is good."

_A.N. I hope it is now apparent that Ino's got the hots for Ryo, who is an incurable womanizer. Next chapter will bring in another pairing. For you Sasuke fans and fan girls he will be introduced later on._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**A Run In With an Heiress**

Naruto and Ryo both squinted as they stepped out into the morning sunlight. Naruto shoved his hands into his pockets and slumped his shoulders. He glanced back over his shoulder at Ryo who smiled meekly back at him. "Man, this bites! I'm sick and tired of these babysitting missions." he mumbled to himself.

Ryo sensed Naruto's anger. "I'm sorry about the inconvenience I've caused. I'll do what I can to make it up to you," he said cheerfully.

This lightened Naruto's mood and he smiled back at Ryo. "Well, the first place we should go is the hospital and pick up your clothes!" Naruto laughed loudly at the thought of Ryo walking around town in the pajamas that the nurses had given him.

Ryo looked down at himself and turned a slight pink in the face. He still had on the dorky looking green pajamas that the hospital had given him to wear. When he looked back up Naruto, who was still laughing heartedly, "Shut up loser!" he shot with a hint of venom.

Naruto stopped immediately, not from fear of Ryo's wrath but from what he said. _Loser, that's what Sasuke used to call me_, he thought to himself. _You know if his hair and eyes were dark and he didn't smile so much he'd look just like him._

The two of them continued on in silence until they arrived at their first stop. After going to the front desk a lady who worked there handed them Roy's washed and mended clothes. Ryo went into a bathroom to change while Naruto waited in a chair outside. When Ryo emerged he was wearing the strangest clothes Naruto had ever seen. His shirt was a white short sleeved tunic that the hospital had repaired kunai holes in the back for him. Worn on his hands and forearms were a pair of black leather gauntlets. Around his waist was a wide belt with an ornate silver buckle in the shape of a horse head. His leggings were a pair of baggy brown pants that had patches over his knees. And lastly a pair of large black leather boots that his pants were roughly tucked into. The entire outfit gave Ryo a very rugged and wild look about him.

"What's up that weird look?" Naruto asked waving his finger at Ryo's attire.

Ryo at first glanced at him with a confused look on his face, and then he just shook his head and smiled. "When you live on the road a lot, you need comfortable clothes that still show people who you are." He said smugly. "That and I think they make me look cool." He added with a grin.

Naruto rolled his eyes and got up out of his chair. "Whatever," his said with a laugh. "My house is on the far side of the village." He stated changing the subject. "Normally I could get there in under a minute, being one of the best ninja in the village, but I'll slow down so I can walk you there." Naruto put his hands on his hips and smiled as he mentally patted himself on the back.

Ryo raised one eye brow at this statement. "Well, thank you so much for accommodating for me." He said with a hint of irony in his voice. "Anyway I did want to see a bit more of the village, and I was hopping for some lunch on the way."

"Cool!" yelled Naruto. "I know just the place. I'll even buy." Naruto then grabbed Ryo by the sleeve and pulled him out the door and down the street.

A few minutes later the two of them were sitting on stools bellied up to the counter of the ichiraku ramen shop. Ryo's stomach growled as he realized that he hadn't eaten anything at all that day.

"ODERS ARE UP, NARUTO!!!" hollered the old man behind the counter as he passed two bowls of steaming hot ramen to the two teenage boys.

"Great!" said Naruto as he pulled his bowl closer. He then picked up his pair of chop sticks and broke them apart. "Time to… huh?" Began Naruto, but before he could finish he looked over to Ryo who was already gorging into bowl. "Wow, you're even hungrier then I am." said an amazed Naruto.

Ryo stopped and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Sorry I forgot my manners for a second there." He said sheepishly. "It's just I've been on the road so much lately this is the first real meal I've had in about a month. I don't count that crap they fed me yesterday in the hospital." Ryo then returned to his bowl but this time was a little more self-conscious of his table manners.

Naruto did the same and for a moment there was silence. Then Naruto couldn't take it any longer. "So, all we know about you is that your name is Ryo something. Care to enlighten us a little further? It's not very polite to be so secretive you know." He exclaimed.

Ryo stopped eating mid noodle, swallowed what he had in his mouth before turning to face Naruto. His eyes then narrowed as he looked at Naruto. From Naruto's perspective he appeared to be looking right through him. After a moment Ryo's eyes returned to normal and he said, "I suppose I can trust someone like you, Naruto." Ryo slurped down the remainder of his bowl, set it down and pushed it away from himself before relaying his story. "I was born in the Land of Lighting about seventeen years ago, in the village hidden in the clouds." Ryo paused before continuing. "At age thirteen I left my home, namely due to a parting of the ways with many of my fellow villagers. So since then I've been on the road, living off the wild and what anyone would give me." He paused as he felt Naruto's discomfort after being told the last fact of Ryo's life.

Naruto tried to change the direction of the conversation. "So you lived in the cloud village, did you ever train to become a ninja?" He asked sounding hopeful. He had never met a cloud ninja before.

Ryo smiled, "Yes, well, kind of…. My father tutored me until I was eight, then he requested that a professional complete my training. Unfortunately I did not make a good student and I never finished." Ryo paused as he recalled his ninja training. "In the cloud village all shinobi must specialize in a particular weapon, mine was a round shield and a gladius." Ryo paused hoping he had not revealed his identity by accident. After Naruto did not respond as if he knew who he was, Ryo continued to speak. "But enough about me, tell me a little about yourself. You are my host after all. All I know about you is your name is Naruto something."

Naruto grinned at the chance to boast about himself. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki. I'm sixteen years old and a member of team Kakashi. I like ramen going on missions and my dream is to be the next Hokage." Naruto stopped when he noticed that Ryo was listening to him as if he believed him.

"That's cool. What about your teammates?" Ryo asked

"Well, there's Sakura. You met her already. She's training to become a great medical ninja and her master is granny Tsunade. She's the pink haired girl that helped save you."

"Is she your girlfriend or something?" asked Ryo.

Naruto turned pink and looked away. "Well, not exactly. I mean I like her but she's always liked my other teammate. What made you think she was?"

"Oh, err…" stuttered Ryo as he searched for a good excuse. "It was just, err, the tone of your voice. I could tell you liked her." He quickly thought up an appropriate subject change. "What about your other teammate?"

Naruto's expression changed dramatically. His normal wide toothy grin turned to a depressed frown. "Well," he began. "The third was Sasuke Uchiha." He paused. Ryo sensed that the very name caused him great pain. "A little more than three years ago he left the village." Naruto told Ryo about the whole Sasuke story from start to finish. "After he left, granny Tsunade assigned a guy named Sai to our team. But when we met up with Sasuke again it turned out Sai's real assignment was to kill Sasuke for the head of an elite anbu black ops team that went behind Tsunade's back. So I killed him myself."

Ryo let loose a long sigh. "Man, and I used to my shinobi training days were ruff." He said with a defeated tone to his voice. He then dropped his chop sticks into his bowl and pushed his bowl towards a pile that had been building up from to boy's meal. "With that, what do you say we head home?"

As the two of them continued on their way a large group of houses appeared on a street that turned off from the main road. When they walked closer they could see a pair of large wooden gates that barred the entrance. Ryo stopped in the middle of the road and gazed up them and asked, "Who lives in there?"

Naruto looked up for a second and then back down at Ryo. "That's the Hyuuga compound. The whole Hyuuga family lives there." he said plainly. As Naruto watched Ryo, he noticed that his eyes looked the same as they did back at the restaurant, the same far off look. Suddenly Ryo pushed the gate open and ran inside. "HEY YOU CAN'T JUST"

Naruto was cut off by Ryo. "Someone needs our help in here!"

Naruto dashed in after him. The two of them blitzed with incredible speed toward, where now could be heard, the sounds of battle. The two boys bust into the inner training area they saw what appeared to be a fight between two girls, one about five years younger then the other against a boy seeming to be Ryo's age. All three had long dark hair and pale eyes.

"Naruto? What are doing in our house?" said the young man with surprise and irritation in his voice.

"Oh… uh…" stuttered Naruto for a moment. "Sorry Neji it's just that" he was about to tell him that Ryo was acting weird and just ran in when Ryo himself stepped forward.

"Oh, I'm very sorry." He said with a smooth voice. "It's just when I said that I heard you fighting." Ryo quickly scanned the room until he spotted the girls. "Naruto ran in here to see if you girls were alright."

Naruto looked at Ryo and raised his eyebrows in confusion. "What are you-"

"It's alright to be embarrassed, man." said Ryo loudly. He then leaned closer to Naruto and whispered, "Just work with me."

Naruto grinned and said, "Yah, I guess. Sorry about that Hinata."

Hinata started to fidget with her fingers. _Naruto came to __**rescue me!**_ she though to herself. "That's alright Naru-" she didn't finish her sentence even before she fainted.

"HINATA?!" yelled Neji as caught her just before she hit the ground. "Hanabi, go find your father! Tell him what's happened!" "And as for-" he started but soon realized that Naruto and Ryo had vanished.

Naruto and Ryo had just cleared the gates of the compound and turned to wards Naruto's house. In a matter of minuets the two had reach the apartment, climbed the stares and burst into Naruto's room. The boys stood there gasping and doubled over laughing.

"You… are the… craziest guy I've ever met." said Naruto though his laughs. "How'd you know she'd pass out?"

"I didn't! I mean, I new she liked you but I didn't realize…"

Naruto stopped laughing abruptly. "Wait a minuet did you just say that Hinata, heiress to the most powerful clan in the leaf village likes me?"

Ryo finally got himself under control enough to answer. "No. I'm sure she passed out because of something she ate. OF COURSE SHE LIKES YOU, YOU IDEOT!!" Ryo then looked at the clock on the wall, which read eight thirty. "I'll leave you to ponder that. I'm hitting the sack early. I'll take the couch."

The two boys made for their respected sleeping areas and collapsed. Within minuets both were out cold. Naruto dreamt of Hinata sitting in a field of flowers on a picnic blanket holding a cup of ramen. Ryo's dreams, however, were not so pleasant.

CRACK!!!! A cat o nine tails whip lashed across thirteen year old, Ryo Higawa's back, cutting deep grooves into his skin that bled furiously. Ryo stood in a dark prison cell with his arms out stretched and tied in place to a large wooden board. His body was covered with the signs of torture, ranging from beating bruises to welts from scorpion stings. Even though there was a barred window it was so dark out side that the only source of illumination, was from a torch that was being held by one of two men standing behind him. The other man raised his hand to bring the whip down on Ryo's back once again. CRACK!!!! Ryo managed to stifle the sound of his agony into a cough.

"Here, let me help you clean up." the man said with a sneer.

Ryo herd the man set his whip down and picked up what sounded like a bucket of water. For a moment Ryo wondered what could be next. The man began to slowly pour a warm salty liquid over the open wounds on Ryo's back.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Ryo could no longer contain himself as he let loose a blood curdling scream. He tried to turn and face his tormentors but remembered all too late that his feet had been chained as well. Ryo collapsed from exhaustion and did his best to fight back tears of pain and despair.

"Come on," said the man holding the torch. "I've had enough for one day, I'm tired."

The second man set down his bucket and stretched out his arms. He then slapped his hand down on Ryo's back that was covered in blood again. The man then leaned down to Ryo's face and made sickening smile. "Hey," he said, "it's your lucky day. It's Friday, we'll take the weekend off while you heal up, and start, AGAIN on Monday." And with that the two men walked out of the cell and slammed a heavy iron door behind them.

Ryo slowly pulled himself up to the wall and set his back against it and looked into what he believed to be the center of the room. "I really need to learn when to keep my mouth shut." he whispered out loud to himself. He thought back as to got him into the whole mess he was in. "I guess one day down, god know how many more to go." He stated jokingly. He watched the empty black space as it continued to do nothing for hours. Slowly a bit of moonlight began to shine in through the bars of his window. _At last, a little light, something good for a change, _he thought. He was just about to fall asleep when a flicker of motion caught his eye. Ryo grunted as he tried to stand up. Once again he saw something dash across the light let in by the window. He did his best to turn and face the opening and when he did he saw to dark figures approaching. Ryo didn't even have to reach out with his feelings to know who they were.

As the two reached his window the moon shone upon their faces revealing them to be twelve year old cloud shinobi, one boy and one girl, both with red hair. The girl was the first to speak, "Oh Ryo, what have they done to you?" she said sadly.

Ryo was not happy with his team mates coming to him in the dead of night. "What, the hell are you and Kenji doing here? If they catch you they'll think you're trying to bust me out of here. You'll be executed." Ryo said angrily. The girl didn't answer; she merely opened a pouch on her belt and pulled out a canister of healing ointment.

"Be still!" She hissed as she began rub on the cream. "Does it sting?"

Ryo's expression then changed. "I'm fine," Ryo said as cheerfully as possible. "You should see the other guy, Akiko."

"Yeah, I'm sure he's beat up on the inside," said Kenji sarcastically. Kenji's smile quickly turned to a frown. "Why'd you do it Ryo? You knew this would happen."

Ryo frowned back at his friend. "Somebody has to stand up for the honor of this village. I refused that mission because the cloud shinobi have integrity. Beating poor villagers up for protection money is deed for the Sound and Grass ninja, not me. Our feudal lord, Ryuichi is just lining his pockets as well as drawing more and more power to himself. If I have to stand against him alone, I will."

Akiko beamed at Ryo for his devotion to his nindo. But she dropped her gaze as she remembered what had happened before Ryo was tossed into his prison. "You know you father didn't mean what he said about disowning you. He was just trying to protect your family. You know what Lord Ryuichi would have done if he didn't."

Roy looked down at his feet and then back to his friends and grinned as he tried to change the subject. "What would I do without teammates like you guys?"

Kenji snickered "You'd be a lot more beat up," he joked. "Here's how we got it planed every night we'll come back to he-"

BAAAANNNNGG!!! Kenji was cut off when a large fist collided with his jaw breaking it.

"AAAAHHHH!!" he yelped as both he and Akiko stumbled back.

Suddenly a large man stepped in between Ryo and his teammates. "What do we have here?! A pair of would be jail breakers!!!"

"No we weren't, honest, please!" yelled Kenji.

At that time Ryo could here more guards coming. A cloud moved back across the moon and all went dark and Ryo was forced to use his clan's kekei genkai sense to find his friends in the shadows. "KENJI!!!! AKIKO!!!! RUN!!!!!!" screamed Ryo to his teammates.

"Shut up!" shouted one of the guards as he butted Ryo in the face with the blunt end of a spear.

Time moved slowly for Ryo as he fell backward. As he lost his conciseness he heard his teammates being beaten, shackled and finally dragged towards the entrance to the prison.

Ryo shot up off the couch he had been sleeping on. He looked around the room for his old cell walls but saw only the crappy, falling apart sheetrock of Naruto's apartment. In the next room he could hear Naruto snoring loudly. He fell back onto the couch and whispered, "Thank god. It was just a dream."

_A.N. Sorry this chapter took so long. I broke my collar bone in a fight THAT I STILL WON! Anyway I'm not getting very many R&Rs so I'll do what I've been doing with other stories. If you review you can ask me to R&R any of your stories and I will as soon as I can. The next chapter is gonna be violent… You have been warned!!!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Naruto sat up in bed. For a moment he was still very drowsy, suddenly he remembered what Ryo had said to him the night before. _OF COURCE SHE LIKES YOU, YOU IDIOT!! _ Naruto leapt out of bed ran to his bedroom window and flung it open. Standing there, in nothing but his underwear and his green nightcap, he held out both hands in the V for victory sign and shouted, "YEAH!!! WHAT NOW!! ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL, RICH…" He paused as he remembered back when he saw a beautiful girl dancing naked in the moonlight. _That was during a mission with Hinata. _He thought to himself. His eyes widened as he had reached an epiphany. _Oh my god! That was Hinata!_ "AND ON TOP OF ALL THAT,GORGIOUS GIRL LIKES ME! AND YOU BETTER BEEEELIEVE IT!!!!" he continued at the top of his lungs.

A large crowd of people had stopped what they were doing and were now looking up at, the all but naked, Naruto.

"THAT'S RIGHT! I'M TALKING ABOUT HINA-grrmf…" A hand had reached from behind Naruto and cupped his mouth as it pulled him back away from the window. Naruto was flung to the back of the room where he could see his assailant.

Ryo shut the window that Naruto had been shouting through and then turned to face him. "She won't think so fondly of you if she ever hears about this." he said grinning.

Naruto looked away as he muttered to himself. "Yah, I guess that would be a little bit embarrassing."

After the two of them had gotten dressed and were eating breakfast Ryo spoke. "Judging by your actions, you've never had a girlfriend before, right?"

"Well, he he…" Naruto began. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"That's alright man. I can tell this chick has liked you for a long time." said Ryo before taking another bite of his cereal.

At that moment there came a knock on Naruto's door. Naruto got up to answer it. "It's Ino and Sakura." He said confused. As Naruto opened the door he greeted the two. "Hey Sakura. Hey Ino. What are you girls doing here?

"Oh, we're just here to see our mysterious friend, Ryo." said Sakura, politely as she showed him a small medical bag that Ino was carrying. "He was only in the hospital for two whole days. To tell the truth I'm surprised he could get out of his room, let alone doing it without anbu realizing." she added glancing around for her patient.

Ryo appeared behind Naruto at that moment. "Ladies do come in" he said smiling, "How may I assist you?"

Ino hopped forward. "We want to run a quick checkup, just to make sure you're alright. If that's ok with you." She asked sounding hopeful that he would agree.

"All right." he said as he sat on the couch. "What's first?"

"Ok we'll start with me listening to your heart. So take off the shirt." Ino blushed and had to try hard to keep a straight face.

Ryo grinned as he disappeared beneath his shirt collar. "Hmm, straight to business eh?" he said with a suggestive voice.

Ino's smile turned to a glare. "Get your head out of the gutter, you animal!" she yelled as she whacked his concealed head.

Hanabi Hyuuga opened the door to her sister's room only to find that she was still asleep from yesterday's incident. She walked over to Hinata's bed and shook her gently. "Sister… Sister… HINATA GET UP!!!"

Hinata woke with a start. "Oh, it's you Hanabi." she said in her usual meek tone. "Sorry. I was having a dream."

Hanabi rolled her eyes as she sat beside her sister. "Let me guess," she said sarcastically. "It was about that Naruto boy, right?"

Hinata sat up at this point and began to fidget with her fingers, the way she does when she's nervous. "No! It was about erm…" she began but couldn't finish.

"Oh, yeah right." said Hanabi with an evil grin. "I've known you liked him for forever now." She paused before continuing, "Don't worry about it. Guess what today is."

Hinata blinked and looked around the room for anything that would give her a clue. Suddenly it came to her. "That's right today you're coming along with my team while we train." Hinata remembered when her father had asked her to take her sister. At first she argued. But afterwards she was happy that he had asked her and not their cousin Neji.

"Yeah, we're supposed to go over field maneuvers." Hanabi said gleefully. She got up off her sisters bed and called back to her, "You'd better get ready I can see Shino, Kiba and Akamaru about half a block away.

At this, Hinata sprang from her bed pulled on her clothes as quickly as possible. Before Hanabi could leave, Hinata asked, "Hey, little sister. Do you think Naruto likes me?"

Hanabi looked back at her sister and rolled her eyes skyward. "I think so but if you ask me, the next time you see him, you ask _him _out. Enough of this wimpy crap." she said and then walked out the door.

Mean while, by a stream on the training grounds, Naruto was hard at work combating a platoon of his shadow clones using only Taijutsu. Ryo sat nearby whittling a tree limb into the form of a short sword.

After Naruto had dispatched the last of his clones he took a seat beside his new found friend. "How's your head?" he asked before taking a swig from a water bottle. "I mean, Ino really knocked a knot on your skull." Naruto added with a slight chuckle.

Ryo ran his fingers through his thick, recently turned, blonde hair. "It doesn't hurt anymore and the swellings gone down." he said followed by a slight moan. As his bangs fell in front of his eyes, he blew them back and said, "I'm still not quite used to have blonde hair."

A moment passed in silence. Then Naruto got an idea. "Hey, Ryo!"

"What?"

"You said you were taught how to fight with a sword." said Naruto as he got up and faced him with a look of excitement on his face. "Do you think you could teach me some moves?"

"Sure." Ryo said smiling as he too got to his feet. He then brandished the stick he'd been carving, "Show me what you got."

_A.N. begin mortal kombat theme now._

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!!!" shouted Naruto. An exact mirror image of himself appeared. "TRANFORM!!!" At that moment the shadow clone transformed into a shimmering katana, which the real Naruto snatched out of the air. "I'll use my chakra to guard the blade so it won't slice through your stick." said Naruto with a smirk.

"I do appreciate that." Ryo said with a calm grin. He then reversed his stance, left foot forward, sword arm back, held in a high guard. "What are you waiting for? Come and get me!"

"HIAAAA!!!!" Naruto charged forward, blade held high. But as he brought it down, Ryo simply batted it away.

"Wrong, all wrong." Ryo laughed as he dodged a slash to the abdomen. "Keep trying."

Naruto leapt away and came back in for another attack. This time he held the katana at eye level as if he was going to skewer his opponent. At the last minuet he spun a full circle and reversed the blade to slash upward.

Ryo blocked the attack by bringing the flat side of his stick down across Naruto's blade. His motions blurred as he swerved outside of the attack with his counter. As he passed Naruto, Ryo smashed him in the face with his elbow and block his leg with his own. Naruto was flung into the air, where he seemed to hover, horizontally for a moment. Then Ryo turned back, Teed up with the hovering Naruto and brought his wooden blade down on his exposed stomach. Naruto folded around the stick just before falling back to the ground in a heap. Naruto gasped for breath as he clutched his gut. Ryo knelt beside Naruto waiting for him to catch his breath. "That second attack was good and I'm starting to see your probl-." He was stopped by a vicious kick to the head from Naruto which caused him to stagger backward.

"Did you actually think I was beat?" asked Naruto with a snarl as he recovered.

Ryo recomposed himself and took his ready stance. "Well, I was going to stop there but how about we test your defense." He then charged forward. Naruto barely managed to bring his sword up to block Ryo's downward slash. Ryo rotated his body and used the bottom of his fist to hammer Naruto's exposed stomach for a second time causing him to bend forward. He then gave Naruto's knee a sharp rap forcing him to kneal. To finish his attack Ryo placed the tip of his stick under Naruto's chin. "Well, we're going to have to make some changes I guess."

Naruto moaned but managed to say, "I don't think I did that bad." He then motioned with his eyes to look down. Pointed at the center of his chest, Ryo could see the tip of Naruto's katana, just grazing his shirt.

"Excellent!" Ryo said with a smile. "But I held back a great deal, and in a real fight, a tie is as good as a loss. You're still dead." Ryo helped his friend to get to his feet. "You handle yourself well but I think you need a different kind of weapon." Ryo walked toward the stream bank and used his stick to draw in the sand.

Naruto quickly joined him squatted down close by. "What do you mean a new weapon?" he asked sounding confused.

"Your form is good but for the wrong style. I mean, you're not fast enough for a katana which relies on its speed for effectiveness." The figure Ryo was tracing in the sand began to take the shape of a broad double bladed sword. "When I watched you fight, you looked more like a power fighter. Let's try and play to that strength." He said standing up looking at Naruto. "I never finished my ninja training but you should be able to make a transformation based on this." he stated pointing at his drawing.

Naruto tried to picture Ryo's drawing as if it was a real sword. "Shadow clone jutsu. Transform!" The same process began again this time his clone turned into a steel version of Ryo's art work. It wasn't as impressive looking as the first but it did look like it could cut right through a man on force alone. "How's this?" Naruto asked feeling proud.

"Looks good." Ryo said with a surprised look on his face. "The type of sword you're holding is called a claymore. Most people find them a lot to blade heavy and get tired quickly. But with your stamina, it should be perfect for you."

After a few minuets rest, the two of them took their positions again. "Alright," Ryo was now grinning at the thought of a real challenge. "I won't be able to hold back so much." He then picked up a second stick. This one had a strangely shaped limb that provided a grip. Ryo held the stick in a way that it protected his left arm and became a shield.

"You ready?" Naruto asked with a smirk, the claymore feeling good in his hands. Ryo nodded as he took the stance he had used before. "Good, because here I come!"

About a quarter of a mile from where the two boys were practicing, team Kurenai was waiting patiently. Hinata was spinning on the spot. Her arms were flowing randomly as she practiced her own variation of the rotation jutsu in slow motion. Kiba and his dog Akamaru were wrestling in the grass. All the while, Shino was simply talking to a grasshopper on the tip of his finger, oblivious to his companions.

Kiba pushed his huge dog off of his chest and sat up to catch his breath. "Hey Hinata!" he called. "Does your sister normally take this long?"

Hinata stopped her spinning and looked around. "Well, umm, not usually." she said with a hint of worry. _This is really strange, _she though. _All she had to do was run back for her lunch. She's taking an awfully long time. _

"I'm sure she's fine." Shino said calmly letting the insect fly away. "She probably got sidetracked at the house." This reassured Hinata and she smiled at her teammate.

"Yeah, you're right I…" She stopped as she spotted a dark figure approaching through the nearby forest. As it entered the clearing where the team was gathered the figure took the shape of a farmer wearing the signature straw hat.

"Excuse me." the man said. "I've just come a long way to see a young friend of mine." The man's voice was incredibly silky, like the voice of the computer you hear when you leave a phone off the hook. "I had heard that he had been injured and I'm here to take him home. Where could I find him?"

Kiba got up and stood next to Hinata. "Do you think he's talking about that guy named Ryo that Naruto has been babysitting." he whispered. Akamaru growled and ducked underneath Kiba's legs causing him to ride on his dogs back.

Shino stepped forward and announced, "If you're talking about a guy name Ryo, he is in our custody. If you want to take him, you'll have to prove you're a friend of his."

The farmer looked at the group and put on a huge fake smile. "You know… That was the wrong answer!" Suddenly the man dissolved right in front of them.

"We're under attack!!" yelled Kiba as his dog gave a ferocious roar. "It's must be a clone jutsu!"

At that moment, five sound ninja charged out of the bushes. All at once they unleashed a hail storm of shuriken.

Hinata leapt between her team and the steel onslaught to protect them. She then began to rotate on the spot. Her arms flailed wildly, drawing lines of chakra so powerful it appeared as a fine, blue mesh. "EIGHT TRIGRAMS ROTATION!!!" As the shuriken collided with Hinata's shield, they disintegrated into a cloud of smoke.

Through the smoke Kiba's voice could be heard. "BEAST MIMICRY JUTSU!!! FANG OVER FANG!!!" Two grey, spinning torpedoes burst out of the fog toward their attackers. Three of the five managed to escape the attack. The other two weren't quite so lucky and were torn apart by the attack.

Two of the shinobi that escaped, turned back to face Kiba and Akamaru. As they formed hand signs to counter Kiba's move, Hinata took them from behind. She used her byakugan eyes to see her enemy's chakra points. Hinata attacked with her clan's special chakra strike technique to the backs of their heads, shutting off all energy to the brain. The two would be assailants hit the ground dead.

The remaining sound ninja silently circled behind the young Hyuuga heiress and placed the tip of a kunai blade in the small of her back. "Amateur." he said. "Never leave your rear unprotected." No sooner had the words left his mouth, he sensed a small tingling, itchy feeling crawling up his leg. He looked down to see a horde black beetles crawling up and eating through his pants.

"That's funny." said a voice from the cloud of smoke that was still lingering. "I was about to say the same thing." As the smoke cleared Shino appeared. "Kill him." he said calmly. The screams of the enemy ninja were quickly silenced as the tiny bugs bored holes into and out of him.

"I think that is enough." said a man leaning his back against a tree. His head was turned down obscuring his face and a large bull whip was wrapped around his torso. "If I were you I'd calm down now." The man looked up showing the gaping hole he had for a right eye. He then pointed towards the village where the team could see two men dragging Hinata's younger sister Hanabi.

When they got closer Hanabi caught a glance of her sister. She tried to call out to her, "I'm sorry sis-." Hinata hissed at her to be quiet but she was too late.

"Ahh, I see. She's your sister." said the one eyed man. "I can see the family resemblance."

Kiba and Akamaru snarled at this low trick. "If you hurt her I'll"

"If you so much as move the little girl will be killed." the man said. "Even if you kill me, she'll still be dead too." The man spoke with a slow oily tone, making his voice a tool for torture. "So I believe it would be a good idea for you to do as I say."

Kiba dismounted Akamaru and stood next to Hinata, who was glaring at this new villain. "What should we do?" he asked in a low voice.

Hinata swallowed before stepping forward. "What do you want?"

"Good girl." said the one eyed man. "All we ask is that you tell us where Ryo Higawa is hiding." He paused before continuing. "It's in your best interests. He's a traitor, a criminal and a terrorist. All we ask is that you help us bring him to justice."

"That can't be true!" Hinata shouted. "I met Ryo yesterday. He seemed like a good person."

The man grinned a hideous grin, made even more hideous by the gaping hole for an eye. "Whether you believe me or not, you're going to help us." The man took out a small knife and walked toward Hanabi. He then laid the flat of the blade against her face and slid the point down her cheek and throat.

CLAP!!! Ryo and Naruto clashed by the river bank, wood on steel. The force of the blows was causing the chakra surrounding Naruto's blade to spark.

"Excellent." Ryo said stopping the match. "It looks like the claymore is your kind of weapon."

Naruto smiled. "Yeah if I can hold my own against you with it, it must be good." Naruto's sword disappeared in a cloud of smoke like any other shadow clone.

Ryo frowned at his comment. "Now hold on a sec." he said with sarcastic anger. "If I had _my_ weaponsI would be kicking your…" His voice trailed off as he looked away. Once again Naruto saw Ryo's eyes seem to lose focus, as if looking at something that isn't there. Suddenly he looked back at Naruto with a look of great urgency in his eyes. "Naruto! There's someone there that needs our help, badly!"

Naruto folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, last time you said that, you made me look like an idiot in front of Hinata and Neji."

"Look you've got to trust me!! If we don't go now there's a little girl who's going to get hurt!!"

Naruto saw the seriousness in Ryo's expression. "Ok, but you better not be pulling my leg again. Which way?"

"This way, follow me!" Ryo shouted. The two of them ran into the forest in the direction of team Kurenai, Hanabi Hyuuga and their attackers.

_A.N. " Whew" glad that chaps over. Sorry if it wasn't as violent as I said it would be. I ended up bumping it to the next chap. If I don't get some reviews I'll kill everyone in the next chapter and don't think I won't do it._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Tsunade sat in her office squaring away the last of her paperwork for the morning. "Finally, that's over with." she said to herself. She leaned back in her chair. "Now I can just relax until something comes up." She smiled as a thought came to her head. "I guess since no one's here I could have a small one." Tsunade ducked down and reached under her desk for a bottle of sake. But as her fingers closed around it the door burst open revealing Kakashi, carrying a large bundle.

"Lady Tsunade!" he yelled clearly worried about something. "We have an emergency!"

Tsunade tried to stand up but her head bumped into the top of her desk, smashing right through. "Arg!" she shouted as she rubbed her head. "What is it, Kakashi?" she spat.

"You know that kid that Sakura, Naruto and the others brought in a few days ago?" Tsunade nodded. "I followed his trail back the way he came and I found these." Kakashi stepped up to Tsunade's desk and laid a sword and shield down on it, as well as a leather bag with a complete set of ninja gear inside.

Tsunade picked up the sword and looked at it for a moment. She then dropped the blade and opened a cabinet beside her desk. "I can't be!" Inside, she pulled out a copy of the bingo book. As she flipped through the pages, she stopped on one that had a picture of a seventeen year old boy. The boy had dark brown hair with white streaks on the sides, and under the picture was the name Ryo Higawa. "I don't believe it." Tsunade whispered. "He just walked in."

Kakashi looked at the picture. "Yeah, that's him alright." he said, a hint of fear in his voice. "He's wanted dead or alive by the Land of Lightning. He's a traitor, a murderer, a terrorist. He even went so far as to kill his own teammates when they refused to join him against the Land of Lightning. What makes it worse he's from the Higawa clan."

Tsunade looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Ok, who are they?"

Kakashi glanced at the ceiling as he thought. "They're an old clan that has tried it's hardest to stay unnoticed." he began. "During the last war with the cloud village they were almost invulnerable, namely due to their clan's kekei genkai." Kakashi spoke as if he had first hand experience of what the Higawa were capable of. "Their blood line trait comes in the form of a sixth sense that, allows them to see into peoples souls and sense emotions. They can even use it to communicate telepathically with each other."

Tsunade's eyes widened. "You mean something like the Hyuuga's Byakugan?" she asked.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head as he thought of a good way to put it. "Well, no. When they look at you with, the sense as they call it, they aren't using their eyes. They appear to be concentrating on something that isn't there." Kakashi looked back to the Hokage. "I know it doesn't sound like much but it makes them perfect spies. Not only can they read your emotions they can almost predict your attacks in battle."

Tsunade stood from behind her desk with a look of determination on her face. "Kakashi Hatake, I want you to find teams Gai, ten and eight. I'll bring Sakura." she said. "If this turns ugly we may have a major fight on our hands and against someone like him, I don't want to take any chances."

"Well, what's it going to be, kidos?" said the one eyed man his knife sliding down Hanabi's chest pausing at her navel. Hanabi tried to keep tears from rolling down her cheeks. The two men that had her by the arms noticed this and snickered.

"You bastards." snarled Kiba. "If you so much as put a scratch on that little girl I'll…"

The man mouthed Kiba's words mocking him. "Oh, shut up!" he snapped. He then turned his gaze to Hinata, who now appeared to be angrier then her team had ever seen her. The one eyed man nodded to his partners who then flipped Hanabi facedown and held her there. "You have the power to stop all this." He said, his voice cutting Hinata like a knife. "Where… is… RYO!!!!"

Hinata looked at her sister. She was being pinned down by the foot of one of the sound ninja while the other used his fist to drive her face into the mud. Hanabi was now sobbing from fear and pain. The one holding her by her hair bent down to whisper something incomprehensible. The man then opened his mouth and, to the horror of team eight, licked the side of her neck and face. Hinata watched as her sister turned and mouthed the words, "help… me…"

"I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS!!" screamed Hinata. "And if I did," she continued in a low tone with hatred lacing her every word. "I wouldn't tell you."

The eyed man sighed. "Very well, you had your chance to go about this willingly." Once again a sick smile crept across his face. "But no, we had to do this the hard way. Ah well, more fun for me, he he." The man then turned to his two minions, "Make sure our guests have a front row seat, and have fun boys."

With a tremendous roar Kiba and Akamaru dashed forward to rescue Hanabi. In a flash of light and a deafening crack, the two of them were thrown backwards. Both the dog and its master howled in pain, clutching their faces.

Shino knelt by the sides of his comrades to see the damage. They both had large bleeding scars running horizontally across their faces. "Don't try anything," he said in a low whisper. "I sent that grasshopper I was holding for help when they first got here."

The team looked up to see what had hit them.

The one eyed man was slowly coiling his whip. "If I were you I wouldn't do that again." The man was grinning wildly. "Please enjoy the sho-"

"NA!" Naruto shot out of the ground in a flying kick stance. He blasted the sound ninja, with his foot on Hanabi's back, forward. "RU!" A second Naruto did the same to the second sound ninja, landing him next to his partner. "TO!" As the two got up, a third Naruto shot up out of the ground directly beneath them. Using a double punch, he smashed them in their jaws, rocketing them straight into the air. Appearing as only a blur of orange, the real Naruto flew out of the trees behind the enemy in a cannon ball. As he sped toward the dazed sound ninja, he opened his legs into a 'V' form and flipped end over end towards to the Hanabi's, flying, would be violators. With an incredible feat of aerial acrobatics Naruto smashed his heels into the faces of his enemies. "UZUMAKI BARRAGE!!"

Ryo dashed out of the tree line. In one quick movement he dropped to his knees, slid across the ground, scooped Hanabi off the ground and came to a halt in front of Hinata. "Here, take your sister," he said passing Hanabi to Hinata. Ryo looked back see Naruto who had just landed in front of the one eyed man. "Oh no," he said. "I didn't think they'd send him."

Ryo's eyes hurt as he was dragged into the sun by two of the king's personal guards. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the light he glanced up at the men who had him by the arms. They were the royal guard wearing their full bronze chest plates and helmets. They also wore their signature round shields and gladius swords.

Upon reaching their destination, which was directly in front of the gallows Ryo was forced to his knees. Up on the decks were two small genin, one a boy the other a girl, both with red hair. Both of them had a large thick noose around their necks. Ryo's heart stopped as he recognized them as Kenji and Akiko. Kenji's head was hung low and his face appeared to be just as beaten as Ryo's. Akiko was trying hard not to cry but her breaths came in short flutters. To their right was a large lever, that as soon as it was pulled, Ryo's friends would drop though the floor.

Ryo looked back over his shoulder to see a large platform with a tall red curtain, baring the royal seal, behind acting as a rear wall. Three men were standing around a tall thrown with a forth man seated upon it. The first and closest to Ryo was the same man who had tortured him. He stood there and grinned at Ryo his one eye blazing with hate. His usual bull whip was wrapped around him.

The furthest from Ryo was an elderly man dressed in a long, white and bronze robe. On his head sat a large semicircle hat, of the same colors, with the symbol for lightning written on it.

_So Lord Raikage, here to see what your lack of leadership has brought us? _Ryo thought sarcastically to himself.

The third man was tall and his hair was bleach, white. His clothes reflected that he was a man of great wealth but did not flaunt it. His face was full of sorrow.

_Father? I didn't expect to see you here._

The forth man sitting on the thrown was almost the opposite of Ryo's father. His clothes wore adorned with jewels and gold. His hair was dark and slicked back. Upon his head sat a crown made of golden leaves. There was also a gleam in his eye, a gleam of great excitement at the sight of approaching death.

"My Lord Ryuichi," said Ryo's father. "I implore you. This is unnecessary. They are only children,"

Lord Ryuichi held up his hand lazily to silence Ryo's father. "Tanaka, that is enough out of you," he said. "Unless you think _your_ children need lessens in loyalty," he added with an evil smile.

Tanaka Higawa looked away from him and stared forward. "No sire. The twins do not need lessens." A single tear rolled down the side of the head of Higawa clan's face as he looked at his son below him who was being held by two of the king's guards.

Finally the Raikage stepped forward. "That's enough, Ryuichi! You go to far this time," he said angrily. "First you imprison Ryo, without trial over simple disobedience. Know your executing his teammates simply because they treated the torture wounds _your _men gave him. If you wish me to continue with your-"

"Old man, to whom do you think your speaking to, with that tone?" said Ryuichi glaring out of the corner of his eye at the Raikage. "The act of giving care to a traitor is treason by association. Need I remind you who holds the leash of the cloud village?"

The Raikage made an attempt to rebuttal. But when Ryuichi motioned for a guard to approach, he stopped.

"That's what I thought," Lord Ryuichi waving down his crony. He then turned to the one eyed man and nodded. The man pulled his whip off of his shoulder and shouted out to the two genin.

"You have committed treason against his majesty the king, the penalty for which is death." The man paused as he made his usual sick grin. "Do you have any last words?"

Akiko looked up at Ryo, whose eyes were watering. "Remember what said Ryo." Her voice was meek and trembling, yet there was calmness now in her eye's that comforted Ryo. "The people of this country need your help. Someone has to protect the cloud village from…"

"TOO LONG!!" shouted the one eyed man. He then lashed out with his whip which wrapped around the leaver and jerked it forward.

The trapdoors of the gallows dropped suddenly and with them fell, Kenji and Akiko. Their bodies came to a short stop eight feet in the air. Miraculously, their necks didn't break. Instead they hung there, suspended by their necks, strangling.

At that moment Ryo rose to his feet quickly. With one swift movement of his heel, he tapped the bottom of the sheath worn by the man to his right. The sword flew out of its container and into the Ryo's open hands.

"What the hell?" was all the man could say before Ryo viciously slashed his throat open. As the man's blood splattered the other guard, some of it found its why into his eyes.

"AHHH!!" he screamed before being silenced by Ryo's blade.

Ryo used his moment of freedom to dash to his friends' aid. As he neared his friends, he tossed the sword into the air, which then came back down spinning. Ryo held out his bound hands. The edge of the blade sliced through the bonds that held him and landed point first into the dirt.

"HANG ON!!!" yelled Ryo as he stood on his toes and stretched out his arms to try and hold up Kenji and Akiko's feet.

Kenji grit his teeth to resist the noose and managed to say, "Get out of here, you idiot… Save yourself…"

"JUST HANG ON!!! I'LL SAVE YOU GUYS!!!"

Akiko did the best she to hold off against the rope. "Please Ryo… for me..."

At that moment two shuriken, appearing only as spinning black circles came, flying from the direction of king's platform. The two flying weapons buried into both Kenji and Akiko's throats.

All time seemed to stop for Ryo as his two best friends breathed their last breaths and their blood dripped onto his face. "NOOOO!!!!" he screamed, in complete agony. All the torture he had endured in his cell, the floggings, the brandings, it was as nothing to what he felt now.

From the platform there came the one sound Ryo least expected to hear.

CLAP!! CLAP!! CLAP!!

Ryo turned to see Ryuichi applauding. Both Ryo's father and the Raikage were looking at the king with expressions of grief and anger on their faces.

"Excellent shot, my good man," Ryuichi said to the one eyed man.

"Thank you, sir," said the man with a grin as he recoiled his whip.

"Well, as much fun as this has been," said Ryuichi with a smile. "I'm afraid that, that's all the time I have to spend here." Ryuichi stood up and turned to leave. "Take the young man back to his cell and continue with his… schedule."

As the man disappeared through the rear curtain of the platform, several of the royal guards began to approach Ryo slowly. They drew their swords when they grew close.

Ryo stepped toward the gladius that he had dropped in his rescue attempt.

"No…" he said in a low tone as he pulled it slowly out of the earth. "No,"

A pair of the attackers moved in to take him.

"NO!!" Ryo Lunged at the first man, grabbing his wrist to prevent him from swinging his sword. The man tried to bash Ryo with the edge of his shield. Ryo ducked the blow and then swung his blade upward severing the man's arm, shield all. Ryo caught the shield and replaced the man's arm with his own. He then threw the defeated man over his shoulder and moved for the next man. "NO! NO! NO!!!" he yelled as he battered through the enemy's defenses before running his sword through the man's gut. He cast the dead body aside and glared at the remaining guards. "WHO'S NEXT?!"

The guards hesitated for a moment. "He can't handle all of us at the same time," shouted one of them. The attackers moved into a circle around Ryo. "Get him!"

They all charged in at once and one after the other, Ryo slaughtered them without mercy. As the last man made a desperate attempt to lunge at Ryo, Ryo leapt over the attack. While in the air, Ryo plunged his sword into the base of the guard's throat.

"DIE!!" he yelled.

_Ryo, stop! _Ryo heard the voice of his father in his head. _What are trying to do, get your self killed?_

_And take as many of these bastards with as I can, _Ryo said.

_But if you die,_ said Ryo's father. _You'll never fulfill Akiko's final request, right. Son, please before others come, you must run for it! Only you can save our village and this country. If not for your own sake then remember the twins, your brother and sister._

Ryo looked at his father.

"Hey you!" came a voice closer to him. Ryo turned to see the one eyed man approaching lightly flipping his whip along the ground. Ryo looked to his father and then back to the man.

"You'll never know how much I'd like to kill you right now," Ryo said through grit teeth. "But I don't have time for this."

At that Ryo formed several quick hand signs ending with his palm on the ground. "SUMONING JUTSU!!"

A tall Buck skin horse appeared beneath him. "Let's go!" Ryo told the beast and the two of them road towards the gallows where his friends swung lifelessly. Ryo then threw his shield which flew like a shuriken, cutting the ropes that his teammates hung by. The two bodies fell onto the horse with Ryo. The shield bounced off of several trees and then returned to Ryo. Ryo look back over his shoulder as he galloped away.

"Don't worry I will protect the people of this country AND SAVE THE VILLAGE!!!"

A.N. Sorry for the wait. If you want me to continue please review.


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